Dark Shadows
by Merlla Aoi
Summary: Chronicles of Riddick fan fic. Riddick meet an old friend of JackKyra's.
1. Default Chapter

A necromonger soldier aproached the throne and knelt. "Lord Marshal?"

Riddick looked down at him. "What is it now?"

"My lord," the necromonger began, getting to his feet, "a girl was found on the streets after curfew."

"And?" Riddick asked, irritated. "You can't deal with one girl? That's pretty pathetic. Stop bothering me with crap you can deal with yourself."

"But Lord Marshal, she was found with this." He held out an old worn peice of paper. "I thought it might be of interest to you."

Riddick snatched te paper from the soldier's hand. His eyes narrowed as he read. "Is this is some kind of joke?!" he growled.

"No my lord! I found it in the girl's jacket pocket." The necromonger's career was flashing before his eyes.

"Where is this girl?" he demanded.

"She's being detained in the dungeon my Lord."

"Bring her to me now," he growled.

"As you wish Lord Marshal," the soldier said bowing. He turned to leave.

"Necro!"

He flinched internally and turned back to face the throne.

"On second thought take her to my quarters. I'll deal with her later."

The necromonger bowed once more and left.


	2. Chapter II

[glow=black,2,300]Dark Shadows[/glow]

Ch. 2

Li sat in a corner with her head in her arms, her dark hair covering her face. She didn't hear him when he came in, didn't notice that he was standing over her until he spoke.

"I've got your letter."

She looked up startled. The lights were dimmed. Normally Li liked the dark but at that moment she didn't much care for it. She peered up at Riddick only long enough to make out his menacing figure. The lack of light didn't seem to effect his vision.

Not getting a response he asked, "Your name's Li, right?"

He crouched down in front of her and she scooted closer to the corner, her spine pressed against the wall.

"Tell me your name, kid." He waited for her reply then pulled the letter our of his pocket. "Is this yours?"

She tried to huddle closer to the wall, to disappear into the shadows. She didn't know Riddick could see in the dark.

"Look kid," he said impatiently, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I just have some questions. Are you going to help me out or do I have to resort to drastic measures?"

Li remained a silent shadow of dark clothes and hair.

"Look at me."

She didn't move.

Riddick pushed the hair our of her eyes. She jumped at his touch.

"Look at me."

Li lifted her gaze and looked at his eyes for a split second. She gasped, Those eyes!

"Do I look familiar or just scary?" he smirked. He picked-up a knife from the table behind him. "I could kill you in a heartbeat. I won't wait for you to answer, I'm sure you agree. So let's play a game. It's called Riddick gets some Answers."

She gasped again at the mention of his name. He misinterpretted it as fear.

"It goes like this: I ask you a question and you give me an answer. If I get my answers everybody's happy and you can go back to your life. If I [i]don't[/i] get my answers, well then no one's gonna be very happy. Especially you."

Riddick reached for Li's arm. She resisted but he grabbed her forearm and pulled it towards him

"First question: Is your name Li?"

She nodded.

He smirked, "Hey, I didn't know you were so good at this game. Ok, next question," he held out the letter with his free hand, "Did Kyra give you this letter?"

Li nodded slowly.

"You were her friend?" he asked.

Another nod.

"Why did she leave? Why did she go to Crematoria?" he demanded.

Li was silent.

"Answer me!" He pulled back her sleeve and put the blade to her wrist. "Answer me damn it! Don't you know who I am?! Answer me or I'll cut you open!"

She sat perfectly still. Calm, waiting.

"You were her friend really? Jack, Kyra, she wouldn't want me to do this. Don't make me."

She lifted her wrist towards the blade as if he were taking too long. He noticed what she was doing.

"Stop it," he nearly whispered. He put the knife away. "Get some sleep, we'll finish this tomorrow," he said as he left the room.


	3. Chapter III

Dark Shadows  
Ch. 3  
  
When Riddick returned the next morning Li was sitting with her back to the wall and her legs stretched out in front of her. Her face was tilted towards the ceiling. She had obviously been crying.  
  
"Kyra's dead."  
  
Startled out of her trance she nodded and pulled her legs into her posture from the night before.  
  
He didn't understand this strange girl who clung to the shadows like a drowning man to a life preserve. Of course she was afraid of him, most were but she looked like she would be terrified of anything. And judging from the scene last night, it wouldn't do any good to threaten her. He would have to get her to trust him a little.  
  
He sat down a few feet from her and leaned back against the wall.  
  
"But you knew that already," he said. "And you know who I am, don't you?"  
  
Li nodded.  
  
"I saved her life more than once--"  
  
"Wasn't enough," Li said softly.  
  
Riddick didn't show his suprise at finally hearing her speak.  
  
"No," he said, "it wasn't."  
  
After a moment he continued, "You knew her pretty well. Any information you could give me would be worth your while."  
  
"The blade," she said.  
  
He knew she was referring to the knife from the night before.

"Whatever you need," he replied.


	4. Chapter IV

Dark Shadows  
Ch. 4  
  
"I really don't know much," she said.  
  
"Just tell me whatever you know," he said. "How did you meet?"  
  
She thought for a moment and then began speaking, her voice barely audible. "We met on a slave ship. I hadn't been there very long. I don't know how long she'd been there before I'd arrived. Said she'd been slaved-out by some Mercs."  
  
"She mentioned that." When she didn't go on he asked her to continue.  
  
She sighed. "We escaped and some people were killed along the way. We went from planet to planet for a couple of years. Still can't believe she never got rid of me." She said this last sentence more to herself than to Riddick. "Said we were laying low but I could tell she was looking for someone. She'd ask around, convicts mostly. Tried to hide it from me but I found out eventually."  
  
"She was looking for me," he said.  
  
"Yes." Her eyes darted towards him for a moment and then returned to the floor. "She told me about the planet, the monsters. About the man that saved her and then dumped her on New Mecca."  
  
"I didn't have a choice," he said.  
  
"Doesn't matter." She shook her head. "Eventually she got tired of "laying low," left me that letter and took off after you."  
  
"And that's all you know?" he asked. "You didn't hear from her after that?"  
  
"I heard rumors that she'd killed too many of the wrong people, ended up in some max security slam," she said.  
  
"Crematoria."  
  
She nodded.  
  
There was a moment of silence. Finally Li spoke.  
  
"The blade."  
  
"What about it?" he asked.  
  
She gave him a confused look.  
  
"You said..."  
  
He smiled. "I said I'd get you whatever you needed."  
  
"How do you know what I need?" Her voice had an edge of anger. She began to chew on her lower lip.  
  
"I know you don't need that knife," he said. "Now how 'bout some breakfast?"


	5. Chapter V

Dark Shadows

Ch. 5  
  
She nibbled on a piece of toast and watched him scarf down three plates of food. She didn't know what to think of him. Kyra had told her that Riddick was a convict, a murderer, and her savior. She'd also said that he'd abandoned her at the first opportunity. But he seemed to have had genuine feelings for her. Now he was the ruler of an empire. And she didn't know why she was still there.  
  
"That all you're gonna eat?" he asked, eyebrows raised.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Back to not talking, huh?"  
  
She didn't answer.  
  
"Well," he said, getting up from the table, "I've got some stuff to do, I'll be back in a few hours."  
  
What's this? she thought, he's not kicking me out yet?  
  
He paused when he reached the door.  
  
"And I've taked care of all the blades. So don't bother looking."

Riddick found his thoughts returning to Li throughout the day. He had probably gotten all the information he was going to get from her. So, why hadn't he just thrown her back on the streets? Was it because she had been Kyra's friend? She had been the only person that had ever really meant anything to him, the only person he would have sacrificed himself to save. If only that had been an option.  
  
But Li was nothing like Kyra. Kyra had been strong, always had to have her way. Li was possibly the weakest person he had ever known. She was like the letter in his pocket, worn and without purpose. She was young, couldn't be more than 24, yet she had no will to live. If anything she was leaning in the other direction.  
  
People like that had always disgusted him. You have to look-out for yourself first and foremost. That had to be top priority. But it wasn't with this girl. And somehow he wasn't disgusted.


	6. Chapter VI

Dark Shadows

Ch. 6  
  
She did search for blades, but she didn't find any.  
  
In fact she didn't find much of anything. His rooms had no decoration of anykind. He only had what was necissary: food, clothes, and she was sure weapons, she just didn't know where. He did, however, have a shower.  
  
She had just finished drying her hair when he returned.  
  
"Couldn't just take my word for it?" he asked, indicating a partially open cabinet door, evidence that she'd been going through his things.  
  
She issued herself a silent reprimand for being careless. But he didn't seem angry.  
  
"You didn't turn the lights up," he noticed. He usually kept the lights on dim so he didn't have to wear his goggles.  
  
She shrugged. She didn't tell him that she hated light, avoided it whenever possible.  
  
A loud beep sounded and Li jumped backwards.  
  
"Relax," he said, "it's just the door."  
  
He opened it to find a necromonger officer standing in the hall.  
  
"Lord Marshel," he stopped when he saw Li standing in the background.  
  
"Who-?"  
  
"She's none of your business," he said stepping out into the hall, closing the door behind him.  
  
He was gone a good twenty minutes. Li wondered who the man was and what he thought of her. He had seemed suprised to see her. Maybe he'd talk Riddick into getting rid of her.  
  
When he came back he was muttering something about "necro politics." He sat down on the couch and looked over to where Li was standing with her back pressed against the far wall.  
  
"You're a really jumpy kid," he said. "Why don't you sit down?"  
  
She remained standing, eyes on the floor.  
  
He sighed. "Look, I get it, you know my record, you pretty much know who I am. I'd be concerned if you _weren't_ afraid of me, but I have no reason to kill you, at least not yet. So relax." 


	7. Ch VII

Dark Shadows Ch. 7

"There are glasses on the top shelf," he said.  
  
She had to stand on tiptoe to reach but he made no move to help her. Not that she expected him to.  
  
Even when the glass fell and shattered on the floor he remained motionless, watching her. She bent to pick-up the pieces and a particularly large shard caught her eye. Mesmerized, she picked it up and stood staring at it. She increased her grip on it until it cut into her palm. The blood begant to drip from her fist.  
  
Riddick quickly crossed the room to her. She backed-up, tripped over a chair and fell. He was angry. Silently he wrestled the shard from her grip. He pulled her up by her arm and dragged her into another room where he left her.  
  
It took Li a few minutes to recover from the daze she'd been in. When she finally did she took a look around. She was in a bedroom. Pretty much the _only_ thing in it was a bed. So she lay down, but she couldn't sleep. Images filled her mind. Images of blood, and Riddick's anger.  
  
As he cleaned-up the broken glass he tried to figure her out. It made him angry when people took for granted something that others had to fight for. Kyra would never have been so weak. But Kyra was dead.  
  
Sometimes he forgot. He'd have to remind himself that she was dead and that he was the reason for her death. 


	8. Ch VIII

Dark Shadows Ch. 8

She hadn't been asleep but her eyes were closed and when she opened them again Riddick was standing in the doorway.  
  
"It wasn't locked," he said, "the door to this room. And neither was the front door. You could have left but you didn't. You didn't even try."  
  
Li sat up on the bed and squinted at him. She tried to figure out if he was still angry or not. It sounded like she was about to get kicked-out.  
  
"So here's the deal," he continued,"you can stay here, but you have to loosen-up a little, not be so jumpy. And none of that." He indicated her bloody palm.  
  
She was shocked at his offer. She didn't understand this man. She couldn't form a solid opinion about him. Every minute spent with him altered it.  
  
"So what'll it be, kid?"  
  
She should leave, she thought, but then where would she go?  
  
She began to nod her head, yes.  
  
He smiled. "Words," he commanded.  
  
"Ok," she said, and smiled a little in spite of herself.  
  
"Ok."  
  
He tossed her a bandage and some antiseptic.  
  
"Here," he said. "I don't do first aid." 


	9. Ch IX

glowblack,2,300Dark Shadows/glow

Ch. 9

Li was cleaning the table. He didn't know why. He hadn't told her to. It wasn't even really dirty.

"Wow," he said in mock amazement. "Do you cook too?"

"Yes," she replied, not pausing in her task.

"Tsk, tsk," he said, "It's too bad you won't be able to."

She looked up, puzzled.

"You know, since you're not allowed to use the knives or anything."

His words stung. She bit her lip and scrubbed harder at the tabletop.

He studied her for a second. "Don't you ever stick-up for youself?"

"What?"

"You'll let anyone walk all over you, do whatever they want. Why don't you ever stick-up for yourself?"

"Why should I?"

"That table ain't gettin' any cleaner," he said. She stopped scrubbing.

"If I held a gun to your head right now, if I was gonna shoot you, what woudl you do?"

"I don't see wh--"

"What would you do?" he repeated.

She thought back to that first night. The blade Riddick had held to her wrist.

"Nothing."

"Right," he said. "Now if I had that gun pressed to the forehead of someone else, anyone else, some person you had never seen before, what would you do?"

"I'd try to stop you," she said.

"Now why would you save some stranger and not yourself? Why would you stand there and let someone insult you to your face? And why, where there's no one around to even do that, would you purposely hurt yourself?"

It wasn't anger that seemed to motivate him now. It was something else. Something Li couldn't quite place.

"Not everyone's tears are water, Riddick," she said. "You know that."


	10. Ch X

glowblack,2,300Dark Shadows/glow

Ch. 10

"You're one strange kid, Li."

"So are you," she said. "I can see why Kyra bothered to chase after you all those years."

He started to turn his head to look at her in the kitchen where she was drinking her coffee but stopped himself. He leaned back on the couch took a sip from his own cup and said, "You sure are talkative tonight."

"It's the caffiene." She smiled. He couldn't see her, but he knew she had smiled. He smiled too.

"You can turn the lights up know," he said. "I've noticed, even in your room you keep the lights dimmed."

"I like the dark." Then, thoughtfully, she said, "Kyra didn't. She didn't like the dark, but she went chasing after it because she knew that's where she'd find you."

"Are you mad at her?" he asked. "For leaving you?"

"I can't blame her," she said.

"But are you mad?"

She sighed. "I knew it would happen eventually. I accepted it long before it did." After a moment she asked, "Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Mad at her?" she asked. "For not staying in New Mecca, I mean. Looking for you when you told her not to."

"I was," he said.

"But not anymore?"

He shook his head.

There was silence while Riddick finished his drink.

"Why am I still here?" He voice was laced with apprehension. The change caused Riddick to turn and face her. "Because I used to know Kyra? So I can tell you stories about her?"

He shook his head. " No."

She bit her lip. "I'm just a puzzle you can't solve. Sooner or later you'll get tired of trying."

His eyes narrowed with concern. "Li--"

"Nobody likes a puzzle they can't solve. Unsolvable puzzles are always thrown away."

Then abruptly she set her cup down on the counter and said, "I'm going to bed."

"You just had half a pot of coffee," he said.

She ignored him.

"Goodnight."


	11. Ch XI

Dark Shadows

Ch. 11

He was in the bathroom when she tip-toed into his room and took the knife from his bedside table. She hoped he wouldn't notice it's absence.

Back in her own room, she gripped the handle of the knife so tightly her knuckles turned white. She began to cut. She didn't bother with her legs, her shoulders. She went straight for her wrists. Six horizontal cuts on each wrist. The blade was the sharpest she'd ever used. She began to think that maybe it was too sharp. It was difficult to keep her hold on the handle, her hands were so slick with blood. She looked down and noticed how much had dripped onto the floor. That's enough, she thought, stop now. But it didn't. She began to panic. She didn't know what to do.

She stumbled out of her room and down the hallway, trying to stop the bleeding of her left wrist with her right hand. It wasn't working.

Riddick's door was open and he was standing inside with his back to her.

"What is it?" he asked, without turning.

"I...I'm sorry…"

She sounded, strange. He turned and saw her leaning against the doorway. He caught her just before she hit the ground.

"It's too much," she said.

"Holy shit, Li! Why?!"

"I'm sorry," she said, weakly. "…just a puzzle…"

"Just a second kid," he said. "Keep your eyes open." He left the room and returned with handfuls of gauze and bandages.


	12. Ch XII

Dark Shadows

Ch. 12

Her eyes were closing.

"No!" he shouted. "Open! Keep your eyes open!"

Her eyes flickered open then closed again. As he fought to stop the blood from pouring out of her veins images were replaying in his mind. Images of Kyra's death, of when she was Jack being attacked by the monsters, of Fry being snatched away from him into the night.

As he pressed the gauze to her wrists he told Li again to open her eyes.

"Li!" he said. "Li, listen. I don't care if you're unsolvable. You're not gonna get thrown away. I'm never gonna throw you away."

Her eyes opened a little.

"Do you promise?" Her voice sounded so sad.

"I promise," he said. "I swear."

When she woke-up she was disoriented. Then she saw the bandages on her wrists, felt Riddick's arms around her.

"I'm weak," she said.

"Then it's a good thing I'm strong," he said and pulled her closer.


End file.
